Just two days before America’s biggest eating holiday, where more than 45 million turkeys are expected to be served for Thanksgiving dinner, 105-pound Sonya "the Black Widow" Thomas became the greatest turkey eater in the world after winning the inaugural Wild Turkey® 81 Eating World Championship.

Thomas ate 5.25 lbs of turkey meat from a whole turkey to best a field of Major League Eaters that included Badlands Booker, Pete "Pretty Boy" Davekos and Crazy Legs Conti. The mark set a new world record. For her efforts, Sonya took home $1,581, the Wild Turkey 81 World Championship Belt and bourbon turkey that sat atop the prized Wild Turkey 81 trophy.

The 10-minute sanctioned competition, which was held at the TimesCenter in New York City, featured competitors eating 10-pound whole roast turkeys.

The turkey eating invitational was title sponsored by the “Official Whiskey of Thanksgiving,” Wild Turkey 81 Bourbon, the newest addition to the Wild Turkey bourbon family. In addition to sponsoring the event, Wild Turkey also made a charitable donation of 81 turkeys to a NYC metro food bank to help families during the Thanksgiving holiday. In keeping with the holiday spirit, Major League Eating also made a charitable donation to the Food Bank for New York City.

About Wild Turkey 81
Created by Wild Turkey Associate Distiller and Bourbon Hall of Fame member Eddie Russell, Wild Turkey 81 might not be as big as its elder brother Wild Turkey 101, but it’s still the toughest kid in its class. It uses Wild Turkey’s famous high-rye mash bill for a spicy kick and is aged longer than others in the category: up to eight years in hand-selected American oak barrels. Utilizing a bold #4 “alligator” char, the barrels give Wild Turkey 81 the vanilla and caramel smoothness that marks it as real Wild Turkey bourbon. Wild Turkey 81 stands tall on its own, but really shines in mixed drinks where its robust flavors never shy away. Wild Turkey 81 was awarded a Gold Medal and named Best in Class at the International Wine and Spirit Competition.